


Bittersweet Cooperation

by Millixi77



Series: Yandere AU [3]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: M/M, The other two relationships in this AU are mentioned in passing, Yandere, Yandere Amami Rantaro, Yandere Oma Kokichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-11 12:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17447048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millixi77/pseuds/Millixi77
Summary: Rantaro and Kokichi have their hands full managing the few slip-ups that the two new couples at school managed to make from time to time. Those four were learning - albeit slowly - but Rantaro still felt as if they weren't completely worth it. However, if those four weren't covered, he and Kokichi could be uncovered as well. So he had no choice there.Rantaro was lucky that Kokichi was his boyfriend. It was so calming, talking with him about the things which had happened throughout the day...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mr. or Mrs. FBI agent observing my search history, I'm not dangerous, I swear. I had to look up murder methods to write this story; I'm not planning to kill someone...
> 
> /shrug/ Nothing I can do anything about it now, huh? Oops!
> 
> "Graphic Depictions of Violence" tag is used to describe the death in this chapter. It's not that gory, I think. However, I thought it would be better to err on the side of caution. In addition, I kind of winged things a little here when it came to body disposal... I apologize in advance for any and all inaccuracies!
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story in spite of that!

**CHAPTER ONE**

 

The act of killing was a very fulfilling and satisfying act. The act of plunging a knife into someone’s body, or setting up the stakes so high that they couldn’t bear it was just so deliciously thrilling. It was almost addictive, and the way endorphins seemed to rush through him whenever he killed someone was so goddamn addictive that there had been many times that he’d considered killing someone just for the heck of it.

 

But he was always able to hold himself back. The mysterious, calm exterior he’d put up couldn’t be compromised over something as trivial as that. He might have been a little sick in the head, but he wasn’t stupid.

 

And apart from the thrill of killing, there was another aspect to it that was far less rewarding and far more tedious.

 

Disposing of the body.

 

Now, he hadn’t gone and killed the poor girl himself; no. People wouldn’t believe him if he said the truth about who had actually killed him, but keeping that knowledge to himself was infinitely more fulfilling than telling it to the world.

 

Who would believe that the soft, sociable _Kaede Akamatsu_ had driven someone to murder by gradually spreading rumors about the person, demolishing their reputation so efficiently that the girl had seen no way out except for offing herself? He could already imagine the reactions this would get if he spread the word. Denial would spread like a plague, and people would take it upon themselves to bury any people who thought that she was guilty.

 

(The burying could be either literal or metaphorical. It simply depended on just how delusional the person doing said burying was.)

 

Whatever the case was: the facts were still the same. Kaede Akamatsu had targeted the girl after her impatience had reached its peak. Said impatience stemmed from the fact that this girl was trying to befriend Tsumugi, despite the NEET-wannabe showing absolutely no prior interest in her.

 

Needless to say, Kaede was quite protective of her girlfriend, and after a few complaints, she’d reached her limit. It had been remarkable how easily she’d managed to dig up information on the girl, and it was admirable just how little she’d actually had to fabricate in order to completely destroy the girl.

 

Whatever the case, Rantaro was sure that she felt accomplished and happy about eliminating such a needless distraction and making sure her love was safe.

 

He wasn’t going to lie; he was grateful that people had learned to leave him and Kokichi alone early on in their relationship. Their fairly reclusive and mysterious personalities had spiked a lot of interest when they’d finally gotten together, but a few subtle threats had been able to diffuse the madness in a matter of days.

 

Now, it wasn’t that the two new couples of the school weren’t trying. It as just that they weren’t as experienced in the art of efficient blackmailing and stopping things in their tracks.

 

There was a difference between being born into a family that used shady tricks to survive and being born into a family that used shady tricks to not only help themselves but help a select few others maintain their footing and maintain the fragile social order in the world.

 

Or in their case, people who were still figuring out how to control themselves and keep their reputation intact in comparison to people who had already mastered that and were helping the ones who still needed assistance.

 

Kaede and Kaito had remarkable self-control in their dealings, that much was sure. However, it was very clear that they were struggling to not slaughter half of the school in attempts to keep their significant others all to themselves. It wasn’t that he couldn’t relate to the sentiment, but they did need to learn this before they started making major moves in the outside world. Not all school-learned tactics would work outside of it, and he didn’t want them to learn the hard way.

 

So he’d decided to give them a little bit of help.

 

Subtly helping to dial back the gossip to just below their tolerance level in order to make sure they didn’t snap, leaving subtle hints for them on how to properly dispose of the corpses they would inevitably leave in their wake, and leaving some important tidbits of information within a reasonable length.

 

Just a fellow yandere helping less-experienced yanderes to maintain their reputation. Nothing too significant.

 

They were all getting a bit of assistance from the school when it came to covering up scandals as well. Being a school that was host to the children of so many rich and powerful people made it very easy for them to look the other way when, say, someone died or went “missing.” At the very least, it was easy when someone from a less powerful and influential family went missing. There were still the children of upstarts and people who were relying on scholarships. No school could survive purely on taking in the extremely wealthy, after all. The media would rip them a new one for perceived prejudice. However, this only gave fresh targets for people who enjoyed inflicting pain on others.

 

If someone was from a family that basically amounted to nothing in the social circles, it would be easy to bully them out of the school or kill them. The problem was that the school was under so much regular scrutiny than just killing them off rapidly like the flies they were would be… incriminating. However, if there was a “disappearance” once in every… two or three months, things could be safely smoothed over.

 

It made transporting bodies off of school grounds rather easy.

 

He was slightly unhappy that he'd be graduating soon; he really liked the ease of body disposal that the school brought him. However, it only made getting the body off of school grounds easier.

 

Dismembering and disposing of the corpse off of school grounds was still as annoying as ever. It had been difficult to get the required materials to properly dispose of the corpse, but in the end, it had been achieved.

 

The dumbass had, quite literally, jumped off of the roof of the school. It had made the disposal a little easier, since her head and neck had been crushed and rendered unrecognizable. It was almost a pity; Kokichi liked collecting the teeth of some of the corpses. In this case, almost all of them had broken from the impact, and had been knocked clean out of her worthless skull.

 

Ordinarily, he'd consider burying her in some secluded location, but he'd decided against that for the time being. He could dig a hole deep enough to make sure police dogs wouldn't be able to detect it, but the fact that the bones could eventually turn up that way was a risk that he didn't want to take.

 

Cue the dark web.

 

The corpse was currently dissolving in a bat of acid hidden in one of the many abandoned warehouses his father's many business ventures had been able to produce. Simple, but brutally effective in erasing evidence. As soon as you had either a vat of acid or a vat of lye, body disposal was no problem. Lye, in particular, made it easy to dispose of the corpse; a body dissolved in lye would turn into sludge that could be sent down the drain without much effort.

 

Whatever the case, the body was as good as gone by now, and he could finally take a little time to relax. Relax and visit his boyfriend, to be specific.

 

Rantaro couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face whenever he thought of Kokichi.

 

His cute, witty, delightfully mischievous boyfriend. He loved Kokichi so, so much that it was almost physically painful whenever they spent time apart. It was a pity that their status in the school meant that they didn't get to interact much during school hours, especially with the two new couples.

 

He appreciated those four, he really did, but he would be damned if he said that they didn't sometimes irritate him half to death at times. At the very least, after helping them out for a little while, he would be able to spend some time with Kokichi.

 

And after this recent killing, things might cool off a bit for a while as the couples retreated to themselves, feeling happy and accomplished that their love wasn't being intruded upon my an unwanted outsider.

 

Just thinking if that sentiment made him crave Kokichi's presence. He couldn't wait to get back to his boyfriend…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rantaro finally gets to see his boyfriend in person after a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hewwo, I have returned with another chapter, sooner that I expected tbh. I hope you'll enjoy it!

**CHAPTER TWO**

Just seeing Kokichi’s home come into view made Rantaro feel as if a burden had been lifted off of both his heart and his mind. Kokichi, like most kids their age, usually stayed at home alone most of the time, thanks to the fact that their parents were busy manipulating the social waters of Japan to make sure that they were in a favorable position.

 

Not like either of them minded; on the contrary, their constant absence was an excuse for them to visit each other more often and without interruptions, like what was happening right now. Rantaro got the key Kokichi had given him and unlocked the door, stepping into his boyfriend’s house as if it was his own. With how often he came over, it might as well be.

 

It wasn’t hard to locate Kokichi, thanks to the soft sound of classical music coming from his room. That meant that he was either bored or focusing on something. Probably the escapades that had been going on for the next few weeks.

 

Rantaro couldn’t help but crack a smile as he opened the door to Kokichi’s room.

 

Kokichi’s room was a beautiful mess of papers hung up on two corkboards, most of them connected with intricate patterns of pins and different-colored strings. Not only that, but the four whiteboards strewn all over his large room were absolutely plastered with pictures and side-notes and some color-coordination done with different-colored markers.

 

Most people would compare it to a conspiracy theorist's den, but to Rantaro, it was his boyfriend’s safe haven. As such, it as a place that he was comfortable with. Kokichi was currently in the middle of looking through a medium-sized stack of papers and looking over the infrmation he’d written all over one of the boards.

 

However, Kokichi quickly looked up at him.

 

“You’re finally back! Thank goodness!” In the blink of an eye, Kokichi had sprung up, pushing his papers aside, and rushed towards him, capturing him in a crushing bear hug. “So how did the disposal go?”

 

“Tedious, as usual.” He hugged Kokichi back, matching the crushing grip of his boyfriend. “So what have you been doing?”

 

“The usual: looking over potential suckers and seeing if the situation can be resolved without bloodshed or social drama.”

 

“So, how has that been going?”

 

“Terrible.” Kokichi’s voice had gone from chirpy to flat faster than a person’s head getting smashed against the wall and cracking one like an egg. “Some of these fools seem to deliberately attempting to put themselves in situations that will get them screwed over.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really. Wanna see these morons?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Kokichi led him over to the whiteboard and put up two pictures onto the board with magnets. One of them was of a boy with bright pink hair, light gray eyes, and clothes that had been dragged straight from the mall. The other was of a girl with long black hair into two pigtails, dull yellow eyes and clothes that betrayed the fact that she was following the current fashion trend of the weel.

 

In short, they were bland people who were probably out of their depth.

 

“Meet Yumi Kamoto and Morio Isa, two of the dumbest, most suicidal people in the entire school.”

 

“Most suicidal? I doubt it; remember the idiot who just flung herself off the roof?”

 

“She’s already dead, she doesn’t count.”

 

“How heartless.”

 

“That’s what other people would say, Taro. Besides, you’re the one who ‘buried’ her. Speaking of which, do you have any of her teeth?”

 

“Not this time. She jumped correctly; her head and neck were crushed in the fall.”

 

“God damn… well, I shouldn’t have to wait for much longer, looking at these guys.”

 

Rantaro couldn’t help but smirk. “Who’s targeting who?”

 

“Yumi’s targeting Tsumugi and Morio is trying to target Kaito.”

 

A short bark of laughter escaped him. “God damn; how dead are they?”

 

“According to how Tsumugi is clinging to Kaede like a snail clings to its shell and the way both Shuuichi and Kaito seem to already be plotting murder… you tell me.”

 

“Oh boy… what are you planning to do this time?”

 

“Should I be honest or not?”

 

“Aww, Kichi,” Rantaro said, moving to hug Kokichi from behind. “are you sure about that?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

“That could put us in danger, you know. Their deaths could raise suspicion. They might be nobodies, but three rapid disappearances in a little under a week could make the police get involved.”

 

Kokichi looked up at him, pouting. “We cover our tracks well, Rantaro. They’ll find so little evidence that they’ll declare it a cold case. If the school doesn’t bribe them, our parents will. Money talks a lot, you know.”

 

“Money may talk, but people are also trying to avoid suspicion. Some people are getting a little testy, you know.”

 

“Uh huh? Aren’t those the same people who say that people like us can’t do anything aside from following the crowd like brainless sheep? They've already wronged themselves too many times for me to take them seriously.”

 

“Even so, not everyone is as sophisticated as we are when it comes to covering our tracks.”

 

And there it was. The one catch of the situation that neither of them wanted to confront.

 

“It’s not our fault that they can’t control their fucking bloodlust, now is it?”

 

“Even so, Kokichi.”

 

“I don’t have to like it. Doing all of this nonsense gives me less time to spend with you, and I hate that!”

 

“Don’t worry. After these two, there should be a small reprieve.”

 

“There had better be one, or else I will kill the two of them myself. They both clearly see just how badly they’re being avoided by their object of infatuation, but they don’t care. Don’t worry that one couple has been happily dating for three months and the other has been dating for just two and a half less than that; if they just hang around them enough, they could change their mind.”

 

Rantaro couldn’t hold back his scoffing at that. “Really? They really are idiots. How many times have they gotten rejected? Ten?”

 

“Twelve times, combined.”

 

“Split evenly between them?”

 

“Split evenly.”

 

“Sounds like the epitome of working harder and not smarter to me. The only way to dissuade them would be to maraud them out of the school at this point.”  


“Exactly. Their obsession may be admirable, but they’re not like us. They’re too hasty and are completely unprepared. They haven’t even done any proper stalking; they’re just airheaded dimwits who need their lesson to be nailed through their thick skulls.”

 

Rantaro chuckled. “Indeed. So it’s going to be the classic gossip wildfire, isn’t it? Smoke them out of the school like the animals they are?”

 

“Yeah. They actually have some history of things like this, so I won’t need to fabricate anything extra for this particular brand of idiots. As it goes around the school, people are going to add all sorts of bullshit; it should spiral into madness within a week or so.”

 

“That sounds good.”

 

“The trauma should give them a very good reason to shut up, and the school will have a final bit of gossip to hold them over for the next few weeks.”

 

“The perfect plan.”

 

“Exactly. The way I see it, I could kickstart the entire thing today and we’d be able to covertly observe the stupidity as it unfolds. The only problem is that people are still cackling over little miss ‘jumped-off-the-roof.’”

 

“So you’ll have to wait a bit for them to start scrambling for a new object of gossip.”

 

“Yeah. It should take around two weeks, tops.”

 

“Two weeks? Are you sure those two would survive that long?”

 

“I’m partially counting on the chance that they don’t, actually.”

 

“Kokichi.”

 

“You know I’m not friendly or patient with idiots, Rantaro,” Kokichi said, his doe-eyed expression clashing beautifully with the sharp words.

 

Rantaro couldn’t help but smile. “No one is, in this world.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

…---...

 

After that, the topic of discussion had quickly veered away from their latest task, and had instead gone over to more mundane topics about how their lives were going. Kokichi’s parents were still gone most of the time, Rantaro’s father was still sleeping around and his sisters were… managing themselves as best as they could in their current environment.

 

The same old, mildly mood-dampening occurrences.

 

Luckily enough for them, today it seemed like fate had decided to give them a break. The classical music combined with the calm, reassuring atmosphere of Kokichi’s room made for a great mood for cuddling. Like any sensible couple, they had jumped at the opportunity.

 

His hands were currently tangled in Kokichi’s hair, aimlessly resting in the slightly tangled purple locks. Kokichi was snuggling  against his chest, holding him close with no intention of letting go any time soon. They had exchanged a few slow, slightly sloppy kisses and it seemed like they would be falling asleep soon.

 

Who knew that planning how to socially sabotage people and planning how to safely dispose of corpses could be so exhausting? Not to mention how long they’d been busy. One and a half weeks spent not being able to contact each other virtually every day seemed like a lifetime.

 

Some people might call it obsessive, but Rantaro could never truly rest easy when he was unable to make sure that Kokichi was alright at any given time. Sure, they might have had phones, but when you were either calling ten different people and grilling them for information or doing some mildly illegal business, the time you could use to contact your significant other was surprisingly short.

 

He didn’t like that. Not at all. And neither did Kokichi.

 

Both of them were completely and absolutely obsessed with one another. Their texts with each other were completely and utterly packed with pictures and detailed descriptions of where they were and what they were doing at any given time.

 

Their call logs would also be interesting for an outsider to go through; he was sure. They could have conversations for hours about anything and everything, talking about each other for as long as they possibly could. They didn’t necessarily talk all of the time, either.

 

Sometimes they just listened to the sound of each other’s breathing, making sure the other was alright, just enjoying the assurance of the fact that the both of them were alive and able to see each other whenever they wanted.

 

(Those phone calls often turned into a little contest of who would fall asleep first. Listening to Kokichi’s breathing made Rantaro feel so peaceful and light-headed that it had turned into an incessant compulsion for him to call Kokichi during the late hours of the evening just to hear him breathe.)

 

(Kokichi sounded _absolutely adorable_ whenever he fell asleep, too! His breaths got longer and a little softer, and it was always a pleasure to try and guess what sort of dream he might have been having at the time.)

 

(The icing on the cake was whenever he snored. It sounded so cute that Rantaro sometimes felt like he could listen to it forever. Kokichi didn’t snore often, but when he did, it was an experience that Rantaro made sure to treasure.)

 

(And on the occasions that he was the one to fall asleep first instead of Kokichi, the following morning, he would be guaranteed to see a wall of text messages from his boyfriend about how lovely he sounded whenever he fell asleep. It wasn’t like he didn’t do the same to Kokichi, but whenever he saw that familiar wall of text messages, his heart soared and he felt indescribably giddy.)

 

Their relationship might be more than just a little bizarre to outsiders, but he didn’t care. As long as both of them were happy, nothing else changed.

 

(Woe betide the fool who decided to voice their grievances directly to them, however. Between himself and Kokichi, the fool would be completely and utterly destroyed within the week.)

 

(No one with a sensible head on their shoulders would even think of messing with them.)

 

( **_No one._ **)

 

Rantaro looked over the part of Kokichi’s room that he could see. Whiteboards filled with information and a corresponding corkboard, both annotated with Kokichi’s signature organized fashion. Some people thought that due to his seemingly random personality, Kokichi would be one of the most chaotic and disorganized people in existence.

 

Oh, how _wrong_ they were. Kokichi was the most organized person Rantaro had met. Of course, holding onto all of this information could get a little difficult a times, but Kokichi still managed to hold order in what would be unorganized chaos in the hands of someone else. Things might seem a little unorganized, but Kokichi was the sort of person who had a way of organizing things in such a manner that most people wouldn’t bother to decipher.

 

By this point, it had become a familiar enigma to him.

 

They both specialized in different parts of the social disruption of arrangement spectrum. The spectrum on its own was something that could be overwhelming at the worst of times and a nuisance at the best. Although he wanted to commit everything Kokichi did to memory, keeping both that and his own niche actions organized was a task that he couldn’t take.

 

There was a reason people often stuck to their own little niches of the spectrum. Damn limited mental capacity; part of him still clamored to be included in anything and everything Kokichi did and liked, no matter what.

 

He loved Kokichi so, so much… he felt his grip on Kokichi tighten.

 

“I love you, Kokichi.” His heart was racing, and he couldn’t help the wild joy that was running through him.

 

“I love you too, Rantaro,” Kokichi said, looking up at him. He could see the same joy that he felt reflected in his boyfriend’s eyes.

 

It made him feel at peace.

 

Instinct seemed to take over from there, as Kokichi scooted upwards a little bit and caught his lips in a heated kiss. It made Rantaro’s already-heightened heart rate double and made his thought scatter, dissolving into little more than a fizzy mess of pleasure.

 

He kissed Kokichi back with the same intensity, tasting the light trace of grape Panta in his partner’s mouth. Their tongues seemed to twine together in this dance of hormones, and the exchange of saliva seemed to make Rantaro’s temperature rise.

 

His fingers twined into Kokichi’s hair more fiercely, pulling him closer, and his other hand was securely wrapped around Kokichi’s mid-back area. In return, he felt one of Kokichi’s hands at the back of his neck and the other one gripping his upper back like it was a lifeline, blunt nails driving themselves into the skin. The mere thought of that made Rantaro grip Kokichi’s hair a little harder, tugging on it slightly.

 

The way Kokichi squirmed and moaned at that made Rantaro feel a little proud of himself.

 

The hand on his upper back moved to the collar of his T-shirt and started yanking at it with force. At this rate, he’d have a ruined shirt by the time they were finished.

 

It wasn’t like that hadn’t happened before.

 

In response, he took a fistful of Kokichi’s shirt and _pulled._

 

The fabric easily gave way with a loud ripping noise.

 

Kokichi’s nails dug even further into the back of his neck.

 

_You’ll pay for that_ , was the unspoken message.

 

_I know_ , was the response he gave to it as he started making short work of the rest of the shirt.

 

So much for falling asleep in each other’s arms.

 

Of course, they’d still be doing that later, but it would be a far cry from what had happened earlier.

 

And Rantaro wasn’t complaining about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Also, just a heads up for people who read one of my other stories, Royal Chaos: updated are going to be put on hold for a bit because I need to flesh out the worldbuilding a little more. I also want to focus more on other projects for a while, so I apologize in advance for the potentially long hiatus...)


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Kokichi felt satisfied.

 

No. That wasn’t an adjective that was descriptive enough.

 

He felt almost euphoric. He wasn't quite on cloud nine, but the endorphin buzz he was riding on could have been cloud nine for how satisfied he felt. Being in the warm, familiar embrace of his sweetheart after far too long… God, he didn't want it to end. To simply exist in the same room as his boyfriend was something that could make his mind fall apart and make his heart start bearing overtime, but at such close proximity? 

 

He was a hundred percent sure that he could happily drop dead at this moment and have no regrets with passing on to the afterlife. The only regret he would have would be to die without Rantaro dying at the same time as well… 

 

They could plan something about this later. 

 

For now, he just wanted to bask in Rantaro’s embrace and forget that anything else apart from this sensation existed. He'd craved this feeling for so, so long, and he'd be damned if he didn't take his sweet, sweet time enjoying this. 

 

He cracked open an eye. As he'd suspected from the relaxed heart rate and steady breathing, Rantaro was still asleep. Asleep and almost lethally beautiful. 

 

Kokichi couldn't help but smile as he looked over his boyfriend. 

 

His hair was a mess of soft green curls that made Kokichi's heart melt as he looked at it. Rantaro’s hair looked so beautifully silky and soft that if Rantaro wasn't asleep, he would be running his hands through it. 

 

(Self-control was so, so hard…) 

 

To try and distract himself, he decided to linger on his boyfriend's face instead. 

 

And with that, his heart attempted to simultaneously melt and burst out of his chest. 

 

Even when his eyes were closed, Rantaro’s eyelashes looked so lush and full that he was half-tempted to pluck one out just to be able to observe it more closely. Instead, he leaned in close, staring at them. They were so, so pretty… He wondered who had thought it fair to bless some people with eyelashes like those and leave everyone else with the basic, unnoticeable ones. It made for an easy marker of distinction, but Kokichi would be fooling himself if he said there weren't times when he had felt jealous about that. 

 

But it was times like this that he could truly appreciate their beauty. 

 

Sending his gaze a little farther down, Kokichi couldn't help but feel a small swell do satisfaction when he saw Rantaro’s swollen lips. His probably weren't any better, but it felt good to see the results of their little escapade. It was so satisfying to see someone marked up a little from your own ministrations… it made him feel a little powerful. 

 

Strange? Yes. Did he really care? No. 

 

Looking down at Rantaro’s neck was something that brought a slightly twisted grin to his face. Oh, sure, he hadn't been able to leave many scars, but there were points where his blunt nails had been able to puncture the skin. Where he hadn't been able to do so, bruises had been left in his wake. It felt so satisfying to know that even as Rantaro had mercilessly marked him earlier in the day, that he'd also been able to leave a few parting gifts of his own. 

 

He could still feel the aftereffects of Rantaro’s fierceness on him; he was lucky that he preferred wearing outfits that covered him up. For starters, it was probably a blessing that he couldn't feel his ass right about now, not to mention the fact that he knew for a fact that his neck was going to be savaged by hickeys. Not to mention his back. 

 

He couldn't wait to inspect them in the mirror later. For now, he was content to look at his boyfriend until he woke up. 

 

He would deny it to anyone and everyone else, but despite being a light sleeper, he slept much better when he was around Rantaro. At times where he would usually be half awake the entire night trying to keep alert, Rantaro’s presence could make him sleep like a baby. For that reason, whenever they slept with each other (in both the explicit and platonic sense), he was usually the one to wake up to see Rantaro looking over him. It was a deliciously heartwarming feeling, but the rare times when he was the first one to wake up were times that he treasured. 

 

His boyfriend was so fucking beautiful that he almost didn't know what to do with himself. He could watch Rantaro like this forever… 

 

A dreadful cheesy sentiment, but one he couldn't help but have. He half-considered getting his phone in order to take a picture and properly record this moment, but decided against it. It was already ingrained in his memory, and any unneeded movement could wake Rantaro up. 

 

Anticipation stirred in him at the thought, and he could feel his cheeks flushing. He could get excited over some of the dumbest things at times, and this was no exception. And yet, in spite of his knowledge that it was completely and utterly foolish, Kokichi maneuvred himself so he could get his phone, which was resting on his bedside table.

 

He didn’t like losing the feeling of Rantaro’s touch, but the idea of being able to keep some snapshots of his boyfriend’s beauty helped to rekindle the excitement within himself.

 

His heart fluttered when he realized Rantaro was still asleep after that. Luck was on his side today, thank goodness. He quickly turned on the aptly-named “do not disturb” function, and went to his camera app. After turning off the flash, he waited for the camera to focus, before snapping a shot of Rantaro’s face.

 

And another.

 

And another.

 

And another, and another, and another, and another…

 

When he finally came back to himself, he knew that he’d have to make an entire album full of those pictures.

 

(It wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before, of course. He knew full well that he and Rantaro were having an unannounced competition between who could get the most pictures of the other.)

 

(As he was the person who took photos and videos for people in order to mine information from the shambles called the high school gossip chain, he was sure he was winning. He had several albums full of Rantaro doing various things, and he treasured those with his life. Being able to have multiple records of just how handsome Rantaro was.)

 

(Being a visual person helped a lot.)

 

He was wondering if he could take a few more pictures when Rantaro’s breathing patterns changed, lightening a little. It looked like he was waking up. Maybe he could take a few good pictures of this as well…

 

Rantaro yawned slightly, before properly waking up. He blinked slowly, and Kokichi swore that his heart would finally make its way out of his chest as he observed the sight. He quickly moved to the video section of the camera app and started recording these precious few seconds of Rantaro blinking the sleepiness from his eyes and gradually coming back to the world of the conscious. It took a few more seconds for his eyes to fully focus on what he was looking at, and Kokichi couldn’t help the large smile that spread over his face or the slight blush that rose to his cheeks.

 

“Hi,” he said, feeling absolutely unashamed of what he was doing.

 

“Recording me? I thought we were keeping the competition under wraps,” Rantaro said, stifling a yawn. “Changed your mind?”

 

“Maybe.”

 

“Maybe.”

 

“In my defense, you looked too delectable for me to pass up.”

 

“Delectable? I thought you didn’t like vore.”

 

“You know what I mean!”

 

“Do I?”

 

 

“Don’t play that game; we both know that you’re lying. I can always spot a liar, you know!”

 

“It’s only natural for the master of lies to be able to spot a liar, isn’t it?” The compliment made warmth spread in Kokichi’s body. Most wouldn’t take being called a liar a compliment, but Kokichi knew that he wasn’t ‘most people.’

 

He considered it a compliment of the highest order; one that he would only accept as genuine from the one person he trusted completely.

 

“Of course. Only the genuine can spot the impostors,” he said, being a little coy.

 

“‘Impostor’? You wound my heart, Kokichi.”

 

“Of course you’re not an impostor! You’re my subordinate!”

 

“Subordinate, hm.?”

 

“I’m the best liar, remember?! I’m tutoring you when it comes to lying. You should be grateful; I don’t let any old dimwits come under my tutelage!” It was needless ego-stroking and they both knew it.

 

“And you’re a great teacher, Kokichi.”

 

The blush on his face seemed to spread even more, and Kokichi couldn’t bring himself to respond. God, Rantaro knew that there were some compliments that would automatically fry his brain, and this was one of them!

 

That was the one and only downside of having a boyfriend who could deliver compliments just as well as Kokichi himself could spin lies. While he broke people’s spirits by both using solid, genuine evidence against them and spreading all sorts of rumors, whether truthful, exaggerated or tastefully fabricated, Rantaro took a more intimate approach to them. 

 

He’d befriend them, and slowly but surely worm his way into their good books, carefully garnering secrets about them before darting behind their backs and destroying their reputations, keeping his distance as their world came crashing down around them.

 

Rantaro preferred using the direct channel to get information while Kokichi preferred using indirect methods that could frustrate people to the point of giving up on finding the source. Most people, anyway. With enough determination, people like Kaito and Shuuichi would either decipher or brute-force a way to him.

 

Rantaro was open and more approachable to people. Kokichi made himself as obscure and infuriating as possible.

 

How they’d ended up together was a mystery that Kokichi feared he wouldn’t be able to decipher, but he was thankful it had happened in the first place.

 

“Flatterer.” He was barely able to whisper the word.

 

“You know I’m not lying, Kokichi,” Rantaro said. 

 

“Even so.”

 

“You’re cute when you’re flustered like this.”

 

“Hey! I’m the one with the camera here; I’m supposed to be complimenting you!”

 

“Oh? There are designated complimenter and complimentee positions now?”

 

“Maybe. It depends on it you want them to be or not. Personally, I don’t really care.” He silently patted himself on the back for not showing his growing anticipation Rantaro was going to pull something, he just fucking knew it...

 

“So, do you mind if I take the role of the complimenter?” Rantaro turned over and sat up, smiling like a cat that had successfully smashed the delicate, expensive plates that its owners had deliberately tried to keep out of reach.

 

Of course, he’d sit up and display his godlike abs when he said that. This was practically bribery!

 

“I definitely don’t mind,” Kokichi said, quickly ending the video.

 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that hormones would take over soon into the compliment distribution, and although he would have liked to record that, he didn’t have the proper equipment to set something like that up.

 

(Not right now, at the very least. He wasn’t going to deny that he was pretty kinky, but getting equipment like that would be hard until he got enough money. Neglectful or not, his parent would notice if any amount of money was moved from their account, greedy dumbasses.)

 

(Not like it would matter in a few years. Information mining was very lucrative, and as soon as he got to college, people would start falling over themselves like dominos in order to get to him. Good performance was rewarded handsomely, after all.)

 

He’d entertain those thoughts later. Right now, he’d focus on what he and Rantaro were going to spend the next hour or so doing.

 

Sometimes, teenage hormones were a blessing.

 


End file.
